by A. R. Licht
The man’s expression remained neutral as he said, “The monster’s house.”
“Please.”
He wrote it down, then asked for the next she had in mind.
“Joyce Fosholdt, Julia Bembenek, and the Susan Anderson’s Women’s Hospital.”
He knew the addresses to the places she sought and he searched them out in the records that hadn’t been carted off yet. He found all of them, brought them back to the counter.
“You’re in luck, my dear. They haven’t taken the hard copies yet, but that’s next so I can only give you five minutes with these.”
“No problem, thank you.”
Phil took two, leaving Kate with both of the shooter’s homes. She waited until the man was distracted with helping to box up something before she discreetly photographed the records with her cell phone. Phil traded records with her so she could photograph the others as well.
Looking over the documents, she learned the address, the date of purchase, and the names of the owners along with the prior owners.
Both houses were bought three years ago on the same date, which she found odd.
“Phil, look. Same date, March seventh, three years ago.”
“Mine too. The hospital, purchased by Stan Wingfield, March seventh.”
“What about Julia?”
“Um,” he flipped the page over, “She isn’t listed as the owner, but her house was bought the same day.”
“Who is the owner?”
“No name is listed.”
“That’s odd.”
“Yeah, and look, they are all in the same neighborhood.”
The man had returned, “I hate to say it, but they are getting antsy. Are you about finished?”
“Is there any chance I could look at a few others?”
“No, Miss Miller. We just don’t have the time. You do know there’s a hurricane brewing out there just off the coast?”
“Yes, thank you for your time.”
Kate, handed the documents back to him and he said, “No problem. I suggest you two find a place to hunker down soon or leave while you still can. It’s going to be a big one.”
The truck started up and Phil backed out, “He called it the monster house.”
“I caught that too. I imagine a lot of people around here won’t be too kind to the surviving parents. Its so hard for me to reconcile that Cody’s mom and dad aren’t real. I interviewed them, they were so nice. I’ll admit that while there may be been a slight disconnect, it didn’t seem out of place in the wake of what they were dealing with. Its hard for me not to feel sympathetic toward them.”
“I watched that interview and thinking back on it, they played it off well.”
“Which brings me back to wondering how deep this whole thing goes. What about that police officer that got shot? Or the ex-girlfriend of Travis?” She rubbed her face, starting to feel the first twinge of tiredness sneaking in.
“Where do you want me to go?”
“I want to talk to Cody’s parents again. I want to press them this time, see if they fold.”
“You got it, boss.”
They drove through neighborhoods that looked sleepy and idyllic. Despite the wind picking up a little, nothing looked out of the ordinary besides the occasional boarded up houses.
Brick fronts and clapboard siding, stone walkways. Kate could see a beautiful town where children grew up happy in nice homes. She saw a house she recognized, one she’d stood out in front of before, waiting for someone to answer the door. A ‘For Rent’ sign now posted out front, the windows bare.
“Stop the truck!” Kate said.
Phil slowed to a stop two houses down. Kate didn’t waste any time, she hopped out and ran back to the house.
She peered in the windows, the rooms inside empty. She remembered all of the plants and the photographs in frames. A red haired woman with blue eyes that could have been a model.
“What’s wrong?” Phil said breathlessly behind her.
“This was Patty’s house. The woman you saw in the gift shop. Her boyfriend, Adam I think it was, sat right there on a green fabric sofa telling me about her.”
“The house is empty.”
“I know. It is possible that there were too many bad memories, but I have to say that it is a little strange that he’d be gone so quickly.”
Phil stepped back and using his cell phone snapped a photo of the front of the house. Kate looked over his shoulder and saw that he had perfectly captured the address along with the for rent sign.
“Could you please email that to me?” Kate asked.
“Sure.”
In the truck again, Phil drove slower as they approached Cody’s house. Kate counted down the house numbers until they reached the one they were looking for.
Phil angled to the side and parked the truck, both of them staring wide-eyed at the place where the Cooper home had once existed.
“They don’t waste any time, do they?” Phil said.
“But, why?” Kate said. “Why destroy a perfectly good home? I mean, even the driveway is gone.
The foundation is gone. Its all just a mound of dirt with grass bits poking out of it. I don’t
understand!”
“Its possible that no one would want to live there after a murderer was born there, or that people were egging the house every day. But, you want to know what I think? I think the value of the land went down after the hospital shooting and the realtor would have to disclose the history. So, after a while, the value will go up again, the house no longer exists, so no history must be disclosed, and they can sell it.”
“But...” Kate’s voice trailed off.
“Where is the other monster’s house?”
“Just around the corner, next block over.”
The Fosholdt home had been completely erased as well. Kate snapped photos of both places, still reeling from the fact that the destruction had taken place not even a full month after the event.
“Can we try to talk to the neighbors?” she asked.
“Actually, I was thinking the same thing.”
They knocked on several doors near Travis’ now non-existent house, hoping to be able to find someone home. They backtracked to Cody’s house and after the third knock on the house next door, a woman answered.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, my name is Kate and this is my friend Phil. Could we ask you a few questions about the Cooper family that lived next door?”
The woman seemed to think a moment before opening the door wider to let them in.
“It is very kind of you ma’am, letting us in,” Phil said.
“Call me Jen. It’s no problem. Have a seat, want anything to drink?”
“No thank you,” Kate said, sitting at the dining room table.
The woman sat across from her, Phil sat at the head of the table. Kate smiled at her and she frowned back.
“Quite a storm coming in.”
“Hurricane,” Jen corrected, “which happens to be named after my sister. Its pretty funny that it is accurate. I love my sister, but she really is a force of nature.”
Kate laughed politely, and said, “I was here as part of the media coverage nearly a month ago and I was shocked to return today to find that both of the killer’s homes had been demolished.”
“Oh, that’s right. I thought I recognized you. I can’t believe I have a TV celebrity in my own kitchen! That’s the most exciting thing to happen in weeks.”
Kate said, “Aw, thank you. I don’t think of myself as a celebrity, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Denise will be sad she missed this. As for the houses being destroyed, I was just as shocked. I went to work two days after the shootings, all worked up over it, and then when I came home the house was gone. There were bull dozers taking out the foundation. It happened so fast.”
“Did you know the Coopers?”
“Not really. I’m just renting this house, and I moved in about a month or so before they did.�
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“Oh,” Kate said, “How long ago was that?”
“Three months? Yeah, about that. Three, maybe four months ago.”
Phil and Kate exchanged looks.
“Did you ever visit with them after they moved in?” Kate probed.
“No. They kept to themselves. I saw them every now and then, and on the weekends Peter would be out there mowing the lawn, but that was about it.”
“How about Cody, did you see him go to school in the mornings perhaps?” Phil said.
“Um. Come to think of it, I never saw him before that day. Just his parents.”
They tried knocking on a few more doors, but the sun was gone now, grey clouds amassing overhead. Kate had one more stop before she needed to regroup and possibly get something to eat before attempting to find a way to get Phil to go back to the hospital.
Phil parked in front of the police department. The windows boarded over, a sign pointing to use the side door, Kate felt like they had entered a post-apocalyptic movie.
Inside, the atmosphere was frenzied. They were in the final preparations, much like the
courthouse had been. She walked between desks, feeling strange to already be behind the curtain because of using the side door and not the front where a reception area would have funneled them to the public area.
Kate recognized one of the officers that had been at the hospital that day, approaching him with her badge visible.
She introduced herself and the officer responded with a terse hello.
“I was hoping I could talk to the officer who was shot the day of the hospital massacres?”
“You’re the one that interviewed him on TV?”
“I did, after he was home from the hospital.”
“You’re even prettier in person. The name’s Gerry.” He held out his hand and she shook it. She quickly introduced Phil. “How’s it going man?” Gerry said.
“Good, thanks. You guys look busy,” Phil said.
Gerry looked behind him and nodded, “Yep. Denise is on her way and we have a shitload of things to get put away. Why don’t we talk in the break room?”
Kate hesitated, having expected Gerry to tell them where to find Dan Pinchot at. She followed him past a few offices, up a set of stairs and down a hallway where the sounds below faded to a low hum.
Gerry poured coffee for all three of them, they sat at one of the long rectangular tables. Kate took a drag and regretted it but tried not to show the distaste on her face. She had to force herself to swallow the viscous liquid and not spit it back out.
“Is it okay?” Gerry said.
“Its great, just hot.”
“Oh good, I know its been sitting a while but we are all too busy to start a new pot. Sugar’s over there if you want some.”
“No, black is good, thank you.”
“How about you?” Gerry asked Phil.
Phil said, “I’ll take my cue from the lady and wait for it to cool.”
Gerry turned back to Kate, “Its real odd you came in here asking about Officer Pinchot. We’ve been trying to get a hold of him too.”
“Really,” Kate said.
“He was shot, you see, so we called over to the office he said he was from and when we finally got a hold of someone they told us we had the wrong office. They didn’t know a Dan Pinchot. So we figured that maybe we had the name wrong but then we saw him on TV and no, it was right. We tried calling around, but eventually gave up when no one knew anything.”
“Is he still living in town?”
“Living in town? Supposedly he was just passing through and stopped to help us out.”
Kate thought back to the way the man had been in his house with his wife and the other officers standing nearby. She could bet that his house would be empty too.
“That’s too bad,” Kate said.
“Well, he’s not the only haywire one. You know that guy who was in the bathroom?”
“Terry Berkus?” Kate said.
“That’s the one. He said he called the cops, but we have no record of it. Dispatch says he never called.”
“That’s really odd. Maybe I should try tracking him down and I can ask him about it,” Kate said, making eye contact with Phil.
“Don’t bother, he left town. Him and all the others in that apartment complex just dipped out on their contracts not two days after things got back to normal around here.”
“The others in the apartment complex?” Kate said, confused.
“Yeah, the vic’s families and the like. I was talking to Benny about it the other day, he’s the one that owns the complex and he was all hot and bothered about it. They all come in three months ago and rent out all those apartments and then they all leave not long after. Weirdest thing.”
Kate sat forward, “Did you guys ever see the inside of the hospital?”
“Nope. The damn FBI kept us out. Told us we were only so good as crowd control and
traffic cops. Pissed us off, I’ll tell you that.”
“Are the FBI still out there investigating?”
“No, they’re done. I don’t see why anyone would need to investigate the open and shut case after so long.”
Phil spoke up now, “Did the victim’s families stick around long enough for the funeral?”
Gerry laughed and drank deep of his coffee, “There weren’t no funeral. It was a service. They had all these flowers everywhere, pictures. Naw. Them people had individual funerals. Oh! And get this, this will blow your mind! All, and I mean all, of the bodies were cremated. Every single one of them! You can find the headstones out at the Alkin Cemetary, but its all ashes.”
“That’s crazy,” Kate said.
“You know it! Didn’t I tell you?”
“Well, we best be getting back out there to see if we can find Dan Pinchot,” Kate said, standing.
The chair scraped out from underneath Gerry who held out his hand, “Good luck, little lady. If you find him, can you let me know?”
Chapter 25
Alkin, North Carolina - April 21st
Kate had noticed a coffee shop in town that she’d stared at longingly on the last two pass-throughs. This time she asked, “Can we please stop off at that little coffee place near the motel?”
Phil gave her a sympathetic look, “I don’t know if they’ll still be open.”
But, it was open. A sign taped to the inside of the door: We are open until the power goes out! Come on in and make yourself at home if you are one of the crazy ones like us.
Kate laughed, pushing the door open. There were shutters over the windows and the glass on the door claimed to be made from tempered glass.
There were eight other patrons enjoying a sandwich and a hand-crafted drink. Kate’s stomach growled at the scent of grilled vegetables. They ordered drinks and food, Kate picked out a table near a corner where there weren’t any windows.
“These must be the die-hards,” Phil whispered in her ear.
“What does that make us?”
“The try-hards?” Phil said.
Kate chuckled, “That works.”
She set up her laptop on the table and logged into the wi-fi, glad to see it is still available. She checked the inbox, the donation site having finally sent a reply to her question about the date it was created. She was surprised to even hear back from them.
Kate, thank you for your interest in FundGo.com. You asked about the creation date of the Private Women’s Hospital Victim’s Fund. It appears to have been created the third of April, but after further review, this date is incorrect. So, we have changed it to April sixth to reflect the correct date. We hope this answers your question, if you need any further assistance, please reply to the email and we will reopen the ticket for you.
She felt giddy, “Look! Phil, read this!”
He turned the laptop toward him and read the email. When he finished, he said, “Three days before the incident? Three days?”
“Yes! I completely forgot about the Facebook pages.”
> Their name was called and Kate got up to get their orders. She grabbed a few napkins and brought it back to the table.
Phil lowered his voice, “What Facebook pages?”
She took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed before answering, “So, on the donation site, there are links from some of the victims to their Facebook profiles. All of the ones with links had been created the day before the shooting.”